72 Sidereal Astronomy . [January, 
of their lives. In such a manner are we also constituted, 
the new and the unexpected only affeCt us. What is 
natural appears to us to be an eternal necessity, an accident 
of blind nature, which is not worth the trouble of being 
observed. If one of those habitants of the far-off world could 
come to us, whilst they would recognise the simplicity of 
our little universe, they could not fail to observe with sur- 
prise and astonishment our indifference to it. 
If like our moon, which gravitates round the globe, and 
those of Jupiter and Saturn, which together shine on the 
darkened hemisphere of these worlds, the invisible planets 
which yonder balance themselves are surrounded by 
satellites, which accompany them, what ought to be the 
aspeCt of these moons lighted by many suns ? This moon, 
which rises behind yonder mountains, has quarters of different 
colours, at one time red, at another blue ; now it is a yellow 
crescent, and now at full, it is green, and appears suspended 
in the heavens like an immense fruit. Ruby moons, emerald 
moons, opal moons ! What singular lustre ? O nights of 
Earth, so modestly silvered by our solitary moon, ye are 
very beautiful when contemplated by the calm and pensive 
mind ! But what is your beauty compared to nights illu- 
minated with those marvellous moons ? 
And what sort of eclipses of the sun would there be on 
these worlds ? Multiple suns, multiple moons, to what an 
infinite play of colours would not your mutually eclipsed 
lights give birth ! The blue sun and the yellow sun 
approach each other, their joint lustre produces green on 
surfaces illuminated by both, and yellow or blue on those 
which only receive one light. Soon the yellow sun draws 
near the blue, it eats into its disc, and the green, spread on 
the pale world, fades and fades till it dies, melting in the 
golden hue which pours its crystalline rays in space. A 
total eclipse colours the world yellow ! An annular eclipse 
shows a blue ring round a gold medal. By degrees, insen- 
sibly, the green shines out, and, recovering its empire . 
. . . Let us add to this phenomenon that which will be 
produced if a moon, coming in the middle of this gilded 
eclipse, covers the yellow sun himself and plunges the world 
in obscurity ; then, following the relation existing between 
its movement and that of the sun, it continues to hide it 
after the emergence of blue disc, and then leaves nature to 
repose again under the obscurity of an azure veil ! 
Let us still further suppose but no, we have 
encroached upon the boundless treasury of nature, remaining 
inexhaustible in spite of all our efforts. 
